Wedding guest battered his wife in jealous rage

A husband knocked his wife unconscious at a family wedding after becoming jealous at the attention she was getting while dancing following a weight loss.

Robert Merryweather, from Bacup, repeatedly kicked his partner, leaving her with a ‘shoe print on her face’, a court heard.

Hair and blood spatters were found by police in the corridor of Mitton Hall County Hotel in Clitheroe and the victim was heard screaming ‘help me, please help me’.

A drunk Merryweather quickly fled the hotel in his Ford Focus and was spotted by police ‘weaving’ along roads in Bacup at 2.45am.

He also went the wrong way round a roundabout before he was arrested outside his home on Anderson Close.

Preston Crown Court heard the couple had been attending the wedding of a cousin on July 18 this year when an argument broke out. Jon Close, prosecuting, told the court: “The day went well but alcohol was consumed. There had been a history of jealously on the defendant’s part with the complainant having recently lost a significant amount of weight.

“As the evening passed he became upset with the complainant dancing with friends and relatives and began to shout ‘you’re slagging about’ before storming off.

“The complainant then subsequently became upset in respect of this abuse and requested their room key which the defendant refused to provide.”

The court heard how the assault happened on the hotel landing outside their room when Merryweather, 45, ‘grabbed her, threw her to the floor and then began to kick her and punch her to the head and face’.

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Mr Close said she tried to protect herself but ultimately ‘lost consciousness’ and was found on the floor by a fellow guest. He said: “When she saw the complainant she was covered in blood and when she ran to help she too saw blood on the corridor and clumps of hair. The complainant was upset and she said he kicked and stamped on her and ‘was practically using her as a football’.”

She was taken to hospital with a 3cm cut to her head which was glued, two black eyes, swelling and bruising to the cheek and had a ‘shoe print on her face’. Merryweather refused to give a specimen of breath at the scene but blew over the limit when in custody and was found in possession of cannabis.

He pleaded guilty to ABH, drink driving and possessing cannabis and was jailed for 10 months.

He was also given an indefinite restraining order with a condition not to enter a street in Bacup where the victim lives and was banned from driving for 17 months.

Judge James Adkin said the wedding day should have been a family celebration and was instead marred by a ‘humiliating beating’.

In a victim impact statement, Merryweather’s wife said she was ‘heartbroken’ having to reveal her beaten face to her children after the assault. Reading the statement out in court, Judge Adkin said: “It broke her heart. She said it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

“The whole family are devastated.

“‘My dad couldn’t even bring himself to come and see us for the first couple of days for fear of breaking down’.” Judge Adkin told Merryweather, who has 21 previous convictions, that the victim had been ‘stamped on when you lost your temper in a drunken, jealous rage’.

He said: “This should have been a family celebration and instead it was a humiliating beating which she received by you.

“She said that you drunk too much and became jealous of the attention she was being paid while she was dancing.

“You went back upstairs towards your room.

“You lost your temper and resorted to violence, pushing her to the floor and then proceeding to kick and punch her.

“Evidence in the hallway also showed hair and blood spatters on the landing where the assault was carried out.

“This offence is so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified.”

Jane Dagnall, defending, said Merryweather ‘has shown genuine remorse and regret’ and is ‘very ashamed of what he has done’.

She told the court: “It’s an extremely ugly and nasty offence. As a result of that he has lost his marriage. That in itself is a personal tragedy for him.

“He has told me that normally he doesn’t drink because it doesn’t mix well with his medication. He now has to refrain as it doesn’t help his health and he doesn’t want to be behind bars again.

“This offence can be said to be out of character bearing in mind the type of offences on his antecedent history and the nature of the relationship.”